Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Receiver help--Onkyo or Denon

With my tax return coming I'm seriously thinking of getting a new receiver--I need something with HDMI connectivity. I've narrowed it down to two choices--Denon 2808CI and the Onkyo SR875. Right now, they are roughly the same price at Onecall.

I've kinda had my heart set on a Denon mainly because of the nice reviews here. The new GUI looks very appealing to me.

One of the things that draws me to the Onkyo is it's HQV (high quality video) processing, but I'm not sure if it's something I need. Is the HQV mainly for upconverting the signal? From what I've read it sounds like the Onkyo will upconvert any incoming signal and output to 1080p.

My plan is to hook up the following via HDMI--Toshiba XA2, Xbox 360, and a PS3. I also have a DirecTV HD box, but it's not that important for me to incorporate it into my HT set up. Pretty much all those sources will be feeding a 1080p signal into the receiver. I'm not quite sure what the Denon or Onkyo will do with those--do they pass the video signal straight through to the TV while handling the audio portion? Or, does it do any kind of processing to the video before sending it on?

Besides the extra inputs the Onkyo has, the video processing and slightly more flexible bass management options are the two main selling points over the Denon. I just don't know how much benefit, if any, I'll get from the HQV portion.

Power's not really an issue as I use an external amp to power my front speakers. I know the 3808CI is probably closer to the Onkyo SR875, but I can't swing the extra cost at this point.

Hmm, decisions decisions. . .

If anyone has input I'd greatly appreciate it!

I have never used an onkyo but I do own the denon 3808.

The 3808 has an option to turn off video scaling, not sure about the 2808.

MY vote is for the denon.

Several of us got the 3808 for $1098 shipped from JR.com. They were quoting the 2808 for $850 I think.

I would give them a call and see if they still have these low prices on the denons.

Jr.com is also an authorized denon dealer so you would still have the factory warranty.

Also, there is someone else who is selling the 3808 really cheap. I forget who, but the company was mentioned on the "official 3808 owners thread" over at AVS.

Hi St Pat guy,

I know you use an outboard amplifier but I'd still say go with the Denon--better reliability than Onkyo, which have had quality control issues on and off for some years.

As to the video processing in the AV receiver, your video display is still going to perform its own processing to its own specific native resolution and pixel array, no matter what the input signal, so I tend to think the HQV in the Onkyo is unnecessary.

Regards,

Alan

Mark,

I have the 2808, and I am enjoying it very much. One thing, unless I am doing something very wrong the 2808 has the old GUI. I think the new one is only on the 3808 and up.

I would suggest reading up on the audio sync issues the new Onkyo receivers are having. This includes 805, 875, and 905 with no solution. My advice would be to wait for next years Onkyo model or go with the Denon.

Bill3508

I'm seduced by the ability of the 3808 to connect to the network and stream audio natively. And mdrew loves the GUI.

Thanks for the info guys! Hmm, I may have to look into the 3808CI--might as well save up and not settle for something else.

Alan, what good does HQV processing do? Is it mainly for taking, say an S-Video input, and converting to 1080p?

terzaghi, I'll definitely check out Jr.com--hopefully they still have good prices on the 3808. I've ordered from them before--I think that's where I got my HK 7200.

framer, I'm honored you called me Mark, but my name's Sean. Mark may be insulted, though! Thanks for the heads up about the GUI. Yes, it does look like the new GUI is for the 3808 and up only.

Bill, yesterday I found a thread on AVS that tries to deal with the audio sync issues. I didn't get into the nuts and bolts of it.

Looks like the Denon is looking better and better. I will go back and reference Mdrew's thread on it.

I've been following it and its a shame that Onkyo is putting out products like that and acknowledging the problem but doing nothing about it. If they don't do better with their next line I will probably be switching to something else.

Bill3508

I know that jr.com showed the MSRP prices for the denon, but when I called them the prices were way lower.

The deal was suppose to end a couple of times and they kept extending it... Maybe you'll get lucky and they still have the deal going.

Dakmart has the refurb 3808CI for about that price, too, FWIW.